California Department of EducationModified 01-Apr-2015

Historical Document

ANALYSIS OF

THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND

THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

Prepared by Dr. Edwin F. Klotz

Senate Education Subcommittee Hearing - November 27, 1967

Senator John G. Schmitz, Chairman

My name is Edwin F. KIotz. I am an Administrative Consultant in the Bureau of National Defense Education) State Department of Education.

I am also an historian by training and profession.

I understand, Mr. Chairman, that my role here this morning is to present a sort of historical perspective to the problem identified in Senate Resolution No. 357 which appeared in the Senate Journal on July 24, 1967, p. 3922. I have therefore examined the “conflict” as described in the various Reports cited in that Resolution, as well as the recommendations of the latest Arthur D. Little Report. Since Dr. Rafferty and others will later testify concerning the administrative aspects of the “conflict,” I wish to use my time to explore the essential questions within a frame of reference that has perhaps not been used before.

As Al Smith used to say: “Let’s look at the Record.”

The “record” will show that the “conflict” we are discussing can be traced to statutory changes made by the Legislature in 1913 which placed the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction “under the direction of the Board.”[1] The sharing of policy and of powers by the elected Superintendent initiated by the act of 1913 soon developed into the “double-headed” educational system described by the “Jones Report” of 1919. As recently as August 1965 a witness appeared before the Assembly Interim Committee on Education and described California’s state educational system as “a schizophrenic type of organization.”[2]

In other words, the “conflict” you are examining today is one that has plagued the Legislature and the people of California for 64 years. It is apparent to anyone who reads the transcript of the San Diego hearings of 1965 that three major divisions of opinion can be identified over the years concerning this issue.

The first is that the conflict can be resolved simply by having the Superintendent appointed by the State Board, a change which would require a Constitutional amendment. This has been the position of professional educators and appointed Commissions ever since the Jones Report of 1919[3], which was in fact written by Ellwood Cubberly, Dean of the School of Education at StanfordUniversity at the time. The same position was made in the Suzzallo Report,[4] chaired by the Chancellor of the University of Buffalo; so did the Strayer Report,”[5] named after George D. Strayer, of ColumbiaTeachers College. The appointment of the Superintendent was suggested as the solution to California’s educational leadership problems by all the professional educators who appeared before the Assembly Interim Committee in 1965. An appointed superintendent and an appointed Board was advocated by Doctors of Education Hollis Allen and Conrad Briner in their study for the recently appointed Constitution Revision Commission.[6] (I should add what you no doubt know: that the recommendations of Doctors Allen and Briner concerning this matter were incorporated by the Constitution Revision Commission and will thus be an item soon to appear before the Legislature.)

Lastly, the Arthur D. Little Company for whom Dr. Briner also served as a consultant, recommended the appointment of both the Superintendent and the State Board.[7]

On the one hand, there is substantial evidence to prove that professional educators and appointed study commissions consistently urge a drastic change of the present structure by separating the office of the superintendent from the elective process.

On the other hand there is just as persistent a view that such a change would deprive the people of a right they hove cherished and continue to guard. Though seldom championed publicly at the present time, there is a vast amount of evidence that this non-organized opinion has held stubbornly to the view that only through the stadium of a popularly elected state school official can the average voter and taxpayer continue to have some voice in the control of the schools to which patents are obligated by law to send their children. A housewife put forward this opinion at the San Ditto hearings in 1965, and both Assemblymen John Collier and E. Richard Barnes articulated the view white they asserted “(we) don’t think the public is saint to buy a proposal to take away from them the right to elect one.”[8] Though housewives are unorganized, this position has been upheld by the people at the polls several times since 1921 when constitutional amendments were offered which would change the structure to allow for an appointed Superintendent. The last time, in 1958, the people at California rejected the idea of an appointed Superintendent by a majority of over a million and a half votes.

There is, however, a third body of opinion which has been around at last since the Constitutional Convention of 1879. This opinion was expressed by a Republican Women’s group at San Diego in 1965 and received considerable sympathy from numbers of the Assembly Committee. This view holds that if an elected State Board of Education were provided for, it could than safely appoint the State Superintendent.

It was a simple fear of bureaucratic control of education that upset the Republican women. Their views were those of Raymond Moley whom they quoted from Newsweek: “The related dangers are first, centralization of control over the content of education, and second, the educational philosophy of those who do the controlling.”[9] By having elected Board officials, they argued, this danger would be lessened.

Experts at San Diego in 1965 produced studies and surveys demonstrating that the trend among States in the U. S. since the 1930’s has been towards the position of an appointive superintendent regardless of how the State Board is created. Those studies reveal that there are as many ways of establishing an administrative structure for Education as there are States of the Union. In New York, for instance, the Legislature elects its State Board of Regents, which in turn has jurisdiction over all educational agencies from Kindergarten to the University. This body also appoints its chief executive officer. The State of Washington on the other band, allows its local school boards to elect the State School Board, but retains its elected Chief school officer. In two large states of the Union, Illinois and Wisconsin, the people do without any Stat a School Board, but do elect their school officer.

I think a look at the record in California would reveal that California would reveal since 1849, have used, or have examined, nearly every one of those systems extant today in some part of the country.

For instance, when the section for electing the State Superintendent of Public Instruction came before the Committee of the Whole on September 22, 1869, John McDougal of Sacramento rose to “move an amendment that it be left to the Legislature to elect these Superintendents.”[10]

Immediately McCarver, also from Sacramento, retorted that he “was decidedly in favor of placing everything in the hands of the people, and particularly the subject of School Commissioners.”

McDougal then withdrew his amendment and Section 1, Article I, was approved without further discussion. Nevertheless a great deal of further discussion revolved around funding of the school program. McCarver’s position was that the power to handle the enormous funds that would accrue from the sale of federal lands “should be placed in the hands of a School Commissioner and held sacred for the purposes of education” and for no other purpose. Robert Semple heartily agreed and outlined for the first time in California history the case for the equalization of funds for education.[11]

“It is the duty of members of this House to unite together and secure that reputation, character, and ability in our public teachers which can only be obtained by a liberal and permanent fund. It is the basis of a well-regulated school system that it shall be uniform throughout the State; that any surplus funds collected in one district shall not be appropriated in that district, but that the aggregate fund from all the districts shall be appropriated strictly to school purposes, and distributed equally throughout the State. It is important then...that proper means be taken to secure responsible commissioners for the faithful and legitimate appropriation of this fund...”

At the Constitutional Convention of 1878-79, both the question of the State Board and the office of the Superintendent were debated at great length. Here, in these lengthy debates the intention of the Constitutional Fathers is clarified. It is significant that the Constitution of 1879 left out, any section regarding a State Board, but did on the other hand examine in depth the office of the Superintendent and the kind of man they felt should hold that office.

A State Board of Education was created by the Legislature as early as 1852 when it become obvious that the Superintendent needed help to survey and conduct the sale of lands to obtain the funds needed to run the schools. The Legislature decreed that the Governor, the Surveyor General and the Superintendent of Public Instruction decide these important issues. But, as with the evolution of most social and political institutions, the Board gradually acquired other duties: selecting textbooks, establishing the criterion for teachers examinations and credentials, deciding the required courses of study, etc. Gradually, the President of the University and the Principals of the teachers colleges (normal schools) were added to provide professional advice to the Superintendent.

It is apparent: from the discussions during the Constitutional Convention of 1878-79 that the people of California were worried by the idea of authority granted to a professional group over whom the public had little control. This seems to be the reason why efforts were made to put the powers of the Board in the hands of the people. Some proposed that the Governor appoint- 2 members from each congressional district to serve on the Board, to be confirmed by the Senate. Others suggested that 2 laymen be elected at large from each Congressional district. In the first case the Superintendent would be an ex officio member and President of the Board; in the second place only an ex officio member.

When the Committee of the Whole discussed Article IX section by section some novel ideas were advanced, usually “in the interest of economy. One gentleman wanted to abolish the Superintendent’s office because it was an extravagance and have an elected Board perform all the duties with the Secretary of State acting as ex officio member to deal with the county superintendents. In response, Joseph Winans of the Third Congressional District, argued: “...a State Board...will lack that responsibility which comes from unity, and they •ill not be able to discharge executive duties which pertain to an officer of this kind...I do not believe that an educational system which abolishes its head will work well...I believe (an elected school officer) to be indispensable to a proper administration of the affairs of the educational department.”[12]

Campbell of Alameda County seconded Winans remarks adding:

“...The office of Superintendent of Schools is absolutely necessary, not merely because it is necessary to have a head of the school department of the State, but because there are duties to be performed by that officer which cannot be performed by any Board of Education... You must have a head to your school department...“[13]

And Schell of the Fourth Congressional District declared that:

“...I do not believe that the people of this State desire or would indorse any radical change in the educational system of this State, and particularly in this regard. The system has worked well, and I believe is perfectly satisfactory to the people of this State. Now, sir, unless the people demand this change, why should we attempt to make any change in regard to the matter.“[14]

The arguments in favor of an elected State Superintendent grew stronger. One delegate insisted that the Superintendents be put “on a level with the Secretary of State.” Another ridiculed the idea of: “A system by which we distribute nearly two million dollars in the State every year and no head to that department!”

Jacob Freud of San Francisco proclaimed:

“Why, sir, the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction should be on a par with the other officers of the like character in the State. He should receive as much as the Attorney General. He should receive as much as the Secretary of State, for he should be a man above them all. The people of this State do riot want that kind of economy in their school system, arid the people of this State will not thank gentlemen on this floor for trying to cut down and belittle their school system…”[15]

Congressman Riggs declared, after describing the superintendent’s duties:

“...I look upon the position of Superintendent as one of the most important in the State.”[16]

John Wickes of NevadaCounty described his ideal Superintendent in more detail:

“…in point of salary he should rank as high as any other State officer. I believe that he should be a first class school teacher...He must be a man versed in the ancient and modern classics, and must be acquainted with the departments of the higher mathematics, with the history of our world, with the natural sciences, with grammar, etymology and orthography of our language…”[17]

John West of Los Angeles adds:

“...We have growing up the future statesmen, legislators, judges, lawyers, if you please, professional men, farmers and workingmen, and their intelligence and usefulness and their position in society depends very much upon the character or influence of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the system of education inaugurated by that superintendency…”[18]

Joseph Winans then concluded:

“...The State Superintendent of Public Instruction must combine most peculiar and diverse qualities. He must be an educated man; a man of study; a man who has pursued his studies as long as it takes to make a Supreme Judge. Besides, he must be a man of executive capacity, or he cannot carry out the entire details of this most expansive and ramifying institution which devolves upon him…”[19]

There was much more debate at that Convention in 1879 on the general subject: and the meaning of education which would be exciting to pursue bad we the time.[20] But I believe the passages quoted here are those most pertinent to an analysis of the significance of the post of Superintendent of Public Instruction as understood and defined by the men who wrote the two constitutions. Thus by the time Section 7 of Article IX referring to the State Board was read before the Committee of the Whole, the philosophy of the men of the Convention had been crystallized. James Caples of Sacramento rose and said simply: “I move to strike out section seven.” The motion was carried without further debate or argument.

The Constitutional Convention of California in 1879 clearly intended to provide the people of California with a highly qualified and popularly elected Constitutional officer in charge of the schools system, as well as to dccontra1ie as much as possible other matters relating to the schools. Many of the duties once allotted to the ex officio state boards were transferred to the county school superintendents or to the county boards of supervisors, such as the selection of textbooks and the examination and credentialing of teachers. Nevertheless, the demands of public education being what they are, the Legislature saw fit just a few years after 1879 to again create an ex officio board to handle those items which involve the judgment of the public that it served. To satisfy this demand an amendment to the Constitution was framed and adopted by the people in 1912 providing for the appointment or the election of a State Board of Education. It reads as follows:

“SEC. 7. The Legislature shall provide for the appointment or election of a state board of education, and said board shall provide, compile, or cause to be compiled, and adopt, a uniform series of text-books for use in the day and evening elementary schools throughout the state. The state board may cause such text-books, when adopted, to be printed and published by the superintendent of state printing, at the state printing office; and wherever and however such text-books may be printed and published, they shall be furnished and distributed by the state free of cost or any charge whatever, to all children attending the day and evening elementary schools of the state, under such conditions as the legislature shall prescribe. The text-books, so adopted, shall continue in use not less than four years, without any change or alteration whatsoever which will require or necessitate the furnishing of new books to such pupils, and said state board shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law. The legislature shall provide for a board of education in each county in the state. The county superintendents and county boards of education shall have control of the examination of teachers and the granting of teachers’ certificates within their respective jurisdictions.”